Out Takes

11 Sep 2016

Fabulous & Fierce – Drag Queens of the Big Screen.

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Fabulous & Fierce – Drag Queens of the Big Screen.

It’s a drag-in-cinema spectacular this week on Out Takes as were joined by the Queen of Ireland herself, Panti Bliss, to talk drag, the politics of a plebiscite and the new documentary mythologising her on the silver screen. That documentary is

‘s THE QUEEN OF IRELAND, which chronicles Panti’s life and her active role leading the YES movement into Ireland’s referendum on marriage equality.

Taking our cues from THE QUEEN OF IRELAND, we look at some of the best films to tackle drag: these are not films that deal with gender transformation or cross-dressing. These are films that perform performativity; that exploit and satirise and caricature gender – think Australia’s THE ADVENTURES OF PRISCILLA, QUEEN OF THE DESERT. Released more than 20 years ago, PRISCILLA engendered a wave of like films that boldly centre on the performance of gender and the potential of drag.

One such film, released more recently, is Paddy Breathnach’s VIVA, Ireland’s official entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the 88th Academy Awards. VIVA tells the story of a young drag queen who must make great sacrifices to reunite with his chauvinistic father. While the kind of drag it mediates is culturally specific, and very different to that in PRISCILLA, the world of performance it evokes reminds us how ground breaking and important PRISCILLA was.

Essential Viewing: The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Dessert (1994, Dir. Stephen Elliot)

Hungry for more: Viva (2015, Dir. Paddy Breathnach)